Jets owner for U.S. Senate? Could be

Marc Serota/Getty ImagesNew Jersey Republicans are hinting they's consider a run by Jets owner Woody Johnson for the U.S. Senate.

Maybe Woody Johnson needed some cheering up from New Jersey’s governor and a likely presidential candidate after his team lost its chance at the Super Bowl the night before. Or maybe something else was afoot.

The Auditor has learned that the Jets owner dined with Gov. Chris Christie and likely Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney when they had their confab at Drumthwacket two weeks ago.

The Auditor is told Johnson, a major donor to Republicans, was there as a Romney supporter. But Johnson — full name Robert Wood Johnson IV — has been talked up lately as a potential challenger to Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez in 2012.

Johnson has two things that the Republicans, who have not won a Senate race in New Jersey since 1972, would love: ready-made name recognition and lots of money.
Johnson could not be reached for comment, and it’s unclear if he’s interested in running for Senate.

But Republicans say if he is, he’s a very serious candidate.

Tom Wilson, a former Republican state chairman, said he heard Johnson’s name come up three years ago, when the GOP’s favored candidate, Anne Evans Estabrook, decided not to run against Frank Lautenberg, setting off a wild search for a replacement that included a brief candidacy of Goya heir Andy Uananue and the ultimate choice of former U.S. Rep. Richard Zimmer, who lost the general election.

“It’s a name that would cause people to stop and think and ponder,” Wilson said. “There are certainly elements on its face that make it a very attractive option, if he were to decide it was something he was interested in pursuing.”

Tell me what you really think
The premiere of the second season of the documentary “Brick City” brought together one of the oddest assemblages of personalities The Auditor has seen in some time.
Newark city leaders mingled with gang leaders during a beer and wine reception before the screening at Manhattan’s School of Visual Arts last week. Despite the volatile mix of Crips and Bloods rubbing elbows with Police Director Garry McCarthy and Newark Mayor Cory Booker, the event went off without a hitch.

Well, almost.

At one point, a young lady tapped Booker on the shoulder and said, “You suck as a mayor.”

Booker winced, but during a life in Newark politics, the mayor has heard a lot worse. The woman, who declined to give The Auditor her name, was asked to leave the reception while the mayor was in attendance.

When the screening began, she was quietly allowed back in.

Googling transparency
Democrats have made a stink about the lack of transparency in the group the Republicans are using to help pay for their redistricting battle: the Center for a Better New Jersey.

The organization, classified as a nonprofit, does not have to publicly disclose its donors and expenditures, and Republicans have not said whether it will.

But a quick Google search reveals at least two donors who contributed at least $35,000, because they had to report the information on publicly available forms.

Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-11th Dist.), for instance, gave the center $10,000 in January 2010 through his campaign account. And one of the political action committees of Rep. Scott Garrett (R-5th Dist.), Supporting Conservatives of Today and Tomorrow (SCOTT PAC), forked $25,000 over to the center.

More can be revealed by looking at who gave to the congressmen.

Frelinghuysen’s biggest donors come from the defense industry. Employees of Finmeccanica, an Italian-based defense contractor with a North American headquarters in Parsippany, donated $18,400 to his campaign, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

The biggest donors to Garrett’s PAC were members of Elliott Management, a hedge fund that gave $45,000 among nine of its members. The firm is run by Paul Singer — a major Republican donor and opponent of President Obama’s Wall Street regulations who, in 2004, donated at least $5,000 to Swift Boat Veterans for the Truth, the controversial organization that helped derail Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry’s 2004 campaign and who has also given to pro-gay marriage causes. Singer was not among those nine donors.

Candidate wanted
On Craigslist, you can seek a car, an apartment, a date, a job, a roommate — and a candidate.

Someone in Bergen County posted an ad on Craigslist seeking a “Libertarian or Tea Party leaning” candidate to run for an unspecified public office in Bergen County.

“Legal Citizens 18 years or older, articulate and must be residents of Bergen County with clean criminal record and with a good moral character,” the ad, posted anonymously on Jan. 28, says.

Bergen County Republican Chairman Bob Yudin said his organization is not recruiting candidates through Craigslist, and he had no idea who is.

The Auditor’s e-mail to the anonymous address on the ad went unanswered.